Jean Rosenthal

Biography

Jean Rosenthal (born Eugenia Rosenthal) is considered a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design. She was born in New York City to Romanian-Jewish immigrants.

In the early part of the 20^th century, the lighting designer was not a formalized position. Rather the set designer or electrician handled the lighting of a production. Rosenthal helped make the lighting designer an integral member of the design team. She also said that lighting "was a career in itself". As well as particular lighting innovations, she created an atmosphere specific to the production, and she was in demand as a Broadway lighting designer.

In 1929, she was introduced to Martha Graham at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She became Graham's technical assistant, which led to a lifelong collaboration with Graham. She worked with Graham on 36 productions. Rosenthal studied lighting design at the Yale School of Drama from 1931 to 1934 with Stanley McCandless.

She returned to New York City, where she joined the Federal Theatre Project in 1935. This led to collaborations with Orson Welles and John Houseman. She would later follow Welles to the Mercury Theatre, where she was credited as a member of the board in addition to production and lighting manager, although not as lighting designer.

Some of her major contributions were the elimination of shadows by using floods of upstage lighting and controlling angles and mass of illumination to create contrasts without shadows. Some of the signature lighting she did for Balanchine and the diagonal shaft of light she created for Graham (lovingly referred to by her as "Martha's Finger of God"), are now in such widespread use by dance companies of every style that they have become standards of the lighting repertoire.

Her lighting designs had a choreographic quality, not only creating the impression of sculptural depth but also responding expressively to music. Robbins dedicated Dances at a Gathering to her memory.

She was light designer for hundreds of productions, including Broadway, Martha Graham's dances, the New York City Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. On Broadway she lit musicals such as West Side Story (1957), The Sound of Music (1959), Take Me Along (1959), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Fiddler on the Roof (1964), Hello, Dolly! (1964), Cabaret (1966), and The Happy Time (1968). She worked with Ballet Society and New York City Ballet (1946–57), The Martha Graham Dance Company (1958–65), and Robbins’ Ballets: USA (1959–60). She created the original light for Robbins’ The Cage.

In addition to her numerous lighting projects, she designed the sets for three Broadway shows: Conquering Hero (1961), The Beast in Me (1963), and On an Open Roof (1963), as well as the sets for numerous ballets such as Afternoon of a Faun and The Cage by Robbins, Opus 34 and La Valse by Balanchine.